My DS6 made a really crappy remark this morning, the kind that makes me want to take everything out from under the tree and send it back. It struck me right upside the head that my DS is spoiled rotten! Although he doesn't get everything he wants, he operates outside of the limits placed on the rest of the household because of his unique situation. For most of the folks on here, if you have more than one child, they are related and probably both gifted. In our house everyone is adopted and not related, so DS6 stands out like a sore thumb.
In having a conversation with DS after his outburst this morning, I realized that DS has no awareness of the human suffering that goes on every day. He thought that every other kid in the world had an existence pretty much like his. He figured that any problems were taken care of by forster parents like us and that's that. Nice tidy idea.....
Don't get me wrong, my son is compassionate to the people in his world, especially with new foster kids coming in. Part of this lack of awareness is definitely my fault as when he was 3 he suffered from night terrors and we kept him away from the news at all costs.
We spent several hours on the internet today, getting educated. We looked up statistics (mathy kid) regarding starvation in children. We looked at images and read stories. We talked about social responsibility. He watched an interview with an charitable organization that is run by a child not much older than he is. He designed a donation bottle for the table at the preschool to see if he can collect money for the foodbank. He wrote an essay on how important it is to be grateful. He worked really hard.
Point of all of this.... Although It opened my eyes and started him down a path that he hasn't travelled to this point, I feel like today was just a bandaid.
So after this whole dialogue, my question is how are you instilling social responsibility in your kids? Is it something you're concerned about at a young age? What can I do to continue in the great start we got today?
